


Bury It

by shortysc22



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-06-02 22:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6585400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortysc22/pseuds/shortysc22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben Solo didn't know what to expect when he made a spur of the moment decision to return home after years away.  A chance meeting in Jakku, Texas changes Ben's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lonely Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to my amazing beta hithelleth. You are the best!

Ben Solo wasn’t sure what made him finally change his mind since his last visit with his father and decide to come home, but he had booked the first flight out of New York to Texas as soon as he had known his father would be back in town.

Han Solo was a truck driver, driving coast to coast and rarely home for most of Ben’s life. Now that Ben was permanently in New York City, he would meet up with his father if Han bothered to call him with a little bit of notice. Each and every time, Han would beg Ben to come home and his response was always the same. Work was busy, he couldn’t get the time off, weather was too unpredictable in the winter, but in reality, he was just comfortable in New York and didn’t want to face the demons that would greet him back in Texas, where his mother had retired to live with his father, who would never retire.

Growing up, Ben spent in his childhood being shuffled between his mother’s place in Washington DC and his father’s home in Corellia, Texas. As a child, he never knew how to define his parents’ relationship, but to be fair, they never seemed to be able define it themselves. He knew they loved each other, but they fought more often than not. When given the opportunity to get away from both of them, he had headed straight out West for business school and then back East to go in to investment banking and hedge funds, something his mother was continuously disappointed with. It was his career, not hers, he always reasoned. Just because she couldn’t brag about all the good he was doing in the world like her colleagues’ offspring, it didn’t mean he needed a lecture about how he disappointed her and how she felt about his profession. It was almost better to ignore most of her phone calls and just talk to her through his father on random trips to town. With his father, at least he could pretend to have a conversation; usually it was meaningless talk about sports or cars or complaining about politics, keeping the topics to things they could agree on.

The last time had been different though. Ben could see the weariness in his father’s face as he had asked him to call his mother, maybe even stop by in the future. Han had said he’d be back at the house the following Tuesday, so that Friday night Ben had booked a non-refundable flight and figured he’d just show up and surprise his parents. If nothing else, his mother would be home. His father wasn’t always the best at keeping promises or even keeping a strict timetable at all. Which was how Ben found himself sitting in the airport playing mindless games on his phone while waiting to board.

And just his luck, the weather was bad in some part of the country which delayed his flight. Originally, he’d planned on arriving around dinner time, but at this rate, he might not even make it to Corellia by nightfall. Of course his father had settled to a large ranch in the middle of nowhere in Texas, which was one of the many reasons Ben rarely visited.

Not only did he have to fly, but then he’d have to rent a car and the shortest route took about 3 hours from the airport. Nothing like a late flight and long drive for him to realize what a mistake he was potentially making.

Finally the passengers were called to board the plane.

Once seated, he ordered a jack and coke, and settled back for a nap, hoping for a smooth flight. Since he hadn’t checked in any bags, he headed straight to rental car counter to get the most basic car he could. He was in such a daze he didn’t realize just how late he was and about 2 hours into the drive, he realized just how late he’d be arriving and knew that would only create tension in the house. No, he reasoned, it’d be better to just get a room at the next exit and show up first thing in the morning after everyone had their coffee.

He pulled off the road and headed to the first basic chain hotel he saw. After checking in, he asked where he could grab a bite to eat and the front desk clerk pointed down the road and said there was a bar that served food not too far. It wasn’t a dangerous walk to the bar, but the clerk warned him not to walk back at night due to people speeding. He mumbled his thanks and headed out. 

As it was still early, there weren’t many people in the bar yet, just a few others finishing up their dinners and some old timers. There was a pool table towards the front and darts against the back wall. Ben grabbed a bar stool near the taps so he was able to get the bartender’s attention pretty quickly. He ordered a Jack and coke and a hamburger before glancing around the bar.

As he turned his head, the bartender yelled at one of the men standing over by the pool table who had just lit a cigar. Ben might not have agreed with government turning into a nanny state, but his lungs were infinitely grateful for the indoor smoking ban. The man stomped off towards the exit and that’s when someone else caught Ben’s eye. 

She looked out of place walking through the smoke and settled in the only other empty seat in the bar, which happened to be next to him. She waved over the bartender, ordering a Jack and coke and glancing right back at her phone. He tried not to stare at her, but he kept glancing at her, noticing how out of place she seemed in this town. Where even was he? That didn’t matter. No. What mattered was catching the girl’s attention. His food arrived shortly and he ate, sipping his drink and trying to figure out which sports teams were playing on the TV in front of him while also trying to man up and talk to the pretty girl next to him. Luckily, he didn’t have to make the first move as she knocked in to him when she got up from the bar stool.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she squeaked.

“No problem,” he said as he straightened himself.

“Say, I haven’t seen you around here,” she said, smiling and sitting herself back comfortably on the wobbling bar stool.

“Just passing through.”

“Of course. No one ever comes to Jakku for anything if they can help it. I’m Rey,” she said, sticking her hand out.

He shook her hand gently. “Ben. Nice to meet you. Let me buy the next round.” 

One round led to several more rounds of drinks, with Rey revealing that she currently worked at the junkyard in town, scavenging through the old cars to part them out and make a profit selling the working parts on eBay. Ben wasn’t quite sure how old she was because she mentioned taking online classes in mechanical engineering with her dream of getting far away from Jakku and being able to work on engines. She just wasn’t sure whether she wanted to work with cars or planes. Ben told her little about his past, mostly sticking to his present and living in New York. She seemed fascinated by the big city life, but was adamant on not going too far from Jakku, which Ben couldn’t understand why. The town seemed dead, even the bar crowd was thinning out and it was still quite early in the night.

With the drinks flowing, Ben had enough courage to challenge Rey to a game of darts. A determined look came across Rey’s face. Ha! Ben knew she was never one to back down from a challenge. Luckily for Ben, he had spent a good deal of his childhood with his father in bars and had perfected darts over the years. Sure, he was a little rusty, but he couldn’t have lost that much of a touch, could he?

Well, he was proven quite wrong when Rey trumped him, though it was still a fairly evenly matched game. She slammed back the last of her drink - he wasn’t even sure what number drink he was on, let alone how many she had - and reached her arms around him and kissed him, pushing him back a little forcibly. He steadied himself by wrapping his arms around her and returned the kiss. If the bartender hadn’t cleared his throat at that moment, Ben wasn’t sure how long they would have continued to kiss or how much further they would have gone.

He noticed Rey looking down at her phone and before his liquid courage could wear off, he grabbed her hand and leaned towards her ear to whisper: “I’ve got a hotel room down the street. Care to join me?”

She smiled and nodded, letting Ben lead the way back, carefully walking far enough from the road, as neither one of them was in any shape to drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from the song "Lonely Eyes" by Chris Young


	2. Flashlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my amazing beta hithelleth! And thank you to all of those who left kudos and commented! Hope you enjoy this!

When Ben woke up the next morning, he was hoping to find Rey still in bed, but was disappointed to discover she had already left. He should have known better from a one night stand. Sure he had fun, but how often would he even be in Jakku? It had been a fun night though, or at least what he remembered of it. He sat up, rubbed his eyes and noticed the paper on the night stand.

_Had fun last night. Text me if you’re ever in Jakku again. –Rey_

“Well,” he thought, “at least they were both on the same page.” Now he just needed to just find some coffee and head out to face the music of seeing his parents again.

The hotel had a small breakfast set up in the lobby with pastries, cereals and the only thing Ben cared about – coffee. Knowing he wouldn’t be back, he grabbed two cups to go and filled them to the brim, adding a small packet of sugar to each. He checked out of the hotel and contemplated for a second whether it was a better idea to call ahead or just show up. He wondered how both of his parents would react, would they even be home when he showed up?

He resolved not to call them; this way he would still have an out if he decided to chicken out on the last bit of the journey. Taking a deep breath, he turned the key in the ignition and headed down the road, focusing on the fact that this was his idea and remembering how desperate his father had sounded during their last conversation, begging him to come home.

Texas was never really his home, but then again, there wasn’t really anywhere he felt home. Sure, New York was currently home, but there wasn’t that childhood home that he could think back on fondly the way most of his colleagues at work did. 

He fiddled with the radio a bit, hoping the music might calm his nerves. Why was he doing this to himself again? It had been ages, but maybe now he was finally growing up and realizing his parents weren’t going to be around forever. Every time he saw his father, there were more lines on his face and his movements were slower.

The drive was uneventful, with few cars on the road. This left Ben with a lot of time to think about his own past here. When he finally pulled off the road and down the driveway, he saw the large garage straight ahead and thought back to all of the summers he’d spent in that garage with his father, holding the flashlight.

He noticed his mother’s car parked out back, the shiny new Mercedes his father was constantly ranting about because there was never anything wrong with it and his mother was meticulous about the upkeep on her car. Usually his father complained about how, yes, it drove nicely, but there wasn’t the same soul to it the way his old cars seemed to all have their own personalities, especially the one nicknamed the Millennium Falcon. 

With his parents being so different, Ben was never sure exactly how his parents ended up together, but the fact that they didn’t always live together explained how they were able to stay together all these years.

Every weekend during those summers spent with his father, there always seemed to be something with his father’s cars that needed tinkering. Most times, his father’s friend Chewbacca would join them and sit back drinking beers while his father would bark orders with Ben just standing there with the flashlight and trying to be helpful without getting in the way. He remembered listening to his father and uncle Chewie talk about their younger days and the trouble they used to cause all over the country. One of their favorite stories was always about the time they just sort of ended up in the middle of Woodstock. 

He couldn’t recall the last time he had seen his uncle Chewie. When he had first moved to New York and his father would randomly drive through, Han had made a point of bringing Chewie along, but at some point that had changed and since then Chewie always seemed to need to be doing something else when Ben would meet up with Han. As a child, Chewie had been the one he’d go running to first, he was so much taller and would swing Ben higher than anyone else. Chewie was a Russian his father had picked up during one of his trucking runs that he had never seemed to be able to shake and had eventually become part of the family. His accent made him hard to understand but over the years, Han had eventually learned enough Russian to be able to understand him and when Ben had been younger, he had grown up speaking Russian to Chewie and English to everyone else. Without seeing Chewie, he had lost a bit of his Russian and wished he had kept up on it.

Thinking back on it, those nights out in the garage with just the three of them had been some of the happiest memories he had of the ranch. Once he had asked his father to tell him the secret to girls, as this had been one of the times his parents had been getting along, but his father had simply laughed at him and told him there wasn’t enough time in the world to figure out the secrets of women. There had been occasionally others who would join them, Uncle Lando who was another friends of his dad’s, his mother who had usually just shaken her head at the mess they had been making or how loud they had gotten after a few beers, or Uncle Luke who had been even more useless with the mechanics than he was. At least he had known to stay out of their way. 

Ben shook his head to drag himself out of his memories and glanced at how little the house had changed since he was last here. The plants had changed but otherwise it was pretty much the exact same as when he had left. 

He debated whether to use the front door or the back door, knowing that his family very rarely used the front door and only when they were expecting company, but they weren’t expecting him. If he just walked in the back door, he’d probably end up scaring them more and he didn’t know what kind of mood his parents would be in. He couldn’t count the amount of times as a child he had walked in on them in some inappropriate manner because he hadn’t been loud enough. He had learned to knock but even then it hadn’t been enough to interrupt his parents.

Taking a deep breath and draining the last of the second cup of coffee, he walked out to the front and pressed the doorbell. It was the moment of truth.

“Ben?” his mother asked timidly, as she opened the door.

“Hi, Mom,” he started before he was enveloped in a crushing hug. Well, at least his mother wasn’t holding any grudges against him.

She stepped back, grabbing a hold of his hands and taking a good look at him. He wasn’t quite used to people staring at him like this, normally he’d just glare at them and they’d avert their eyes but he couldn’t very well do that to his mother when he was the one who sought them out. She pulled him closer and hugged him again and he could feel her tears rolling down her cheek this time. He struggled to maintain his composure, after all he hadn’t seen his father yet and still needed to be prepared for whatever lecture he might have coming. 

For the next five minutes, his mother alternated between hugging him tightly and pulling back to glimpse at him. He tried to remember the last time he had seen her, maybe his college graduation? Had it really been that long? He had spoken to her in between but when had he actually seen her in person?

At that moment, he heard the back door open and his father yell for his mother. Ben laughed at that because it was the one consistency in his life. His father was always looking for his mother, always afraid she was going to run off and find something or someone else better. When she couldn’t seem to compose herself enough to yell back, he heard his father’s footsteps run through the house, coming to a stop the second he saw Ben.

“Ben?” his father started. “Did this last time finally make a difference in that frozen heart of yours?” he ended sarcastically.

“Yeah, Dad, it did.” Ben laughed. Only his father could take a heartwarming moment and turn it into something completely ridiculous and sarcastic. Which led to his mother smacking his father and finally dragging Ben into the living room, patting the couch next to her. She was still barely coherent behind her tears of what he could only assume were tears of joy.

When she finally calmed down enough to speak she transformed into what his father dubbed “senator mode” which involved her taking on a complete sense of calm and taking charge of the immediate situation.

“How long are you staying? Are you staying at least for dinner? What would you like? I’m afraid I’ll have to run to the store in order to make your favorite spaghetti Bolognese, don’t have everything I need stocked. Chewie’s coming over for dinner tonight, too, so I’ll have to make a lot.” She continued to mutter to herself, ticking off her fingers what else would obviously need to be done tonight. Ben laughed to himself.

“I’m here until Friday afternoon, if you’ll have me, I’ll stay at the house, and seriously whatever you make is fine by me. I tend to order in most days,” he answered, which led to Leia immediately jumping off the couch and heading to the kitchen. Han, who had been sitting in the recliner, just shook his head before getting up himself.

“Beer?” Han asked and Ben knew exactly why he had offered. This day was going to be rough enough, at least have the alcohol flowing to ease some of the tension that was sure to happen. Of course his mother never approved of that.

“HAN! It’s barely 10 AM!” she shouted from the kitchen.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” he whispered conspiratorially to Ben.

Ben nodded his head in agreement. One or two beers wouldn’t hurt and if anything, it’d keep him here. He wasn’t going to drive after drinking and his mother should have known that after the amount of times she had drilled that in to his head.

“Miller High Life okay? I know we’ve got that, maybe Coors Light or Bud Light, but definitely none of that shitty craft beer everyone’s fond of up in that fancy city of yours.”

“The Champagne of Beers?” Ben answered.

“Now there, that’s my boy. Be right back.”

With Han out of the living room and his mother still running around the kitchen taking inventory of what she would need to prepare his surprise homecoming dinner, Ben took a minute to look around the living room. Not much had changed in the last several years since he had left. The pictures around the room were pictures of his parents when they had first gotten together, he wasn’t sure if they had been married yet, or pictures of him growing up, with the most recent being his college graduation photo. 

He walked down the hall to the kitchen, trying to watch his mother in action and wondering why his father had seemed so desperate to bring him home this time. He thought it might have been that either one of his parents was dying of cancer, which wouldn’t seem out of place, but they both seemed to be their normal selves. This house was really his father’s house but he could see how his mother had influenced it over the years to subtly belong to both of them. Curious, he was about to walk up the stairs to see if his father had changed anything about his bedroom but as soon as he walked up one step, his father was grabbing his hand and turning him around to hand him the beer. 

Silently his father moved back to the living room and Ben followed. This was typical of them, words weren’t need between them. Granted, Ben didn’t really know what to say. How was he to explain that yes, that list visit his father had looked sad, pathetic and desperate enough that he decided to come home and, oh, by the way, had a nice one night stand on the way in? His father would probably only pick up on the last part of that statement and he’d never hear the end of it. No, it was better to just let the silence take over and sip his beer while he watched his father chug the first one and immediately reach for a second one.

Deciding to break this awkwardness, Ben inquired about the Falcon, knowing that his father could never shut up about the old car. His father laughed.

“In pieces. Ready to hold the flashlight again? I know you never quite got the hang of how to make the cars run right, but I hope you learned a thing or two out there.”

Smiling, Ben answered, “Yeah, Dad, I did. I can hold the flashlight if you need to put the old thing back together.”

With that they both headed out to the garage, with Leia looking on from the window, smiling because Ben was back in their life again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from the song "Flashlight" by Chris Young


	3. My Old Man's Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to my amazing beta hithelleth and thank you so much to everyone reading, commenting, and leaving kudos.

Ben lost track of time as he helped his father out in the garage, holding the flashlight or trying to figure out exactly what tool or part his father needed next when he was waving his hands wildly about. Every so often Ben wished he had paid attention more as a child or come back to the garage as a teenager and picked up more useful skills. He didn’t keep a car in the city, it was too expensive, but he didn’t think he’d stay in the city forever and he would love to be able to fix his own car without relying on anyone else.

His mother would say it was his father’s independent streak that Ben inherited, but his father would claim that Ben’s stubbornness was directly inherited from his mother and then his parents would be off arguing about all of their faults, which always seemed to lead to either one walking out or makeup sex. 

If Ben wanted to point out why he had trouble in relationships, he only had to look to his parents for the terrible example they had set for him. Both seemed to put work first, then each other, and Ben was left off on his own most of the time, which is why the times he did spend with father in the garage were some of his happiest memories.

However, for the first time in a long time, Ben couldn’t get a girl out of his head. Rey had managed to entice him with one meeting and he found he was already lying to his parents to try to get back to her. His flight back was on Saturday, but he wanted to make sure he had some time between leaving his parents and arriving to New York. Well, if he happened to decide to spend the night in Jakku before going home, that would just be a bonus. If she was available, of course. There was no guarantee. Should he text her now? Should he invite her to dinner and then back to the hotel or just skip dinner and keep this incredibly casual? It had been a while since Ben had played these games and he wasn’t sure what the protocol for a one night stand that seemed up for doing it again was.

He must have zoned out for a bit because the next thing he noticed was his father snapping his fingers to get Ben’s attention. He shook his head and blinked his eyes to bring himself back to the garage. His stomach took that moment to rumble and he looked at his watch. Almost 2! They had been out here for hours and he hadn’t realized that it was past lunch time.

“C’mon, I heard that. Your mother’s still off in town so we can whip up something quick for lunch. You know she’ll expect you to eat a lot tonight. The more you eat, the less you have to talk,” Han said.

Ben smirked at that trick. His father would always time eating at just the right moment so that his mother couldn’t get the answers to the questions she asked as instantly as she wanted.

“Has Mom’s cooking improved since she moved here? Now that she has time to practice.”

“Don’t count on it. She hasn’t burnt the house down yet, but you’re just lucky she’s going out to get the stuff for your favorite meal. Here,” Han threw him an old rag, “you might want to hit the shower before dinner. Knobs are still a little finicky in your bathroom, give it a moment for hot water. Towels should be under the sink.”

Feeling properly dismissed, Ben headed back to the house and up the stairs, with each step bringing him further back in the past and reminding him of the good and bad times in the house. It was like walking back in time and he really shouldn’t have expected any different when he opened the door to his old bedroom, which he hadn’t redecorated since high school. The walls were covered with band posters and he knew he wouldn’t fit in any clothes in his room. He looked around the room again, and noticed that his mother probably came in regularly to vacuum and wash the sheets to keep the room smelling fresh.

After showering, Ben laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling the same way he did as a child, except now his legs hung further off the end of the bed. He fiddled with his phone for a bit; it was still a workday and he was responsible for checking his email periodically, but nothing came in that Hux or Phasma wouldn’t be able to handle so he forwarded on the emails and ended up drifting off to sleep, not waking up until his mother called him down for dinner.

He went back slowly downstairs, not sure what to expect. Would the dinner be incredibly awkward? Who else would his mother manage to invite over? He was curious about where his uncle Luke was now, he always seemed to be on the move and Ben had lost track of his whereabouts years ago. As he approached the dining room, because of course his homecoming would warrant using the formal dining room and fine china, he heard Chewie’s boisterous laugh. He hoped it would just be Chewie and his parents tonight, then he’d just have to get through two more days and he could be back to his solitary lifestyle in New York. 

The food was set out on the table and Ben let out a sigh of relief when he saw only four places set out. His mother sat next to his father, with Chewie across from his father. That left the only free seat across from his mother. When Ben caught his father’s eyes, Han just winked and mouthed “good luck.”

“Beer or wine with dinner? Sit, sit. Eat up,” his mother said, scooping food on to his plate.

“Beer is fine,” he replied. Leia scurried off to the kitchen to grab him a bottle and no one dared to speak with her not in the room.

When she returned, the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Ben didn’t want to be the one to start talking, he didn’t even know where to begin. He knew the first question would be “why now?” and that’s exactly where his mother started.

“Not that we aren’t happy to see you, but why now?” 

Ben didn’t know how to answer that. How could he face both of his parents and tell them that his father just looked more desperate to see him home this last time? Or that he didn’t have any friends in New York, just colleagues, because he was a workaholic. His greatest fear at this point was dying alone and no one noticing him missing. Of course, he couldn’t tell this to them, not yet at least. He didn’t want them to become overprotective parents. They weren’t there for him growing up and he only wanted them mildly in his life now. He took a deep breath and decided to go with a more diplomatic answer.

“It was time. I don’t want to live with any more regrets. I know both of you didn’t have the best relationships with your parents and I guess I finally grew up,” he said. It was partly true and enough to satisfy his mother. Or so he hoped.

From there, dinner proceeded much more smoothly, with his parents gossiping about the neighbors and allowing Ben to think about what he wanted to say next. 

“How is Uncle Luke?”

“Oh,” Leia’s face dropped and she took a large gulp of wine. “Luke went to live off the grid in California about two years ago. Haven’t heard from him since. At least this time he decided to stay in United States. As far as we know, he’s still out there, but he honestly could have moved on since.”

Hearing this about his uncle didn’t surprise him in the slightest. He always knew his uncle was a little eccentric and had a tendency to take off and explore, losing all track of time. This made for some interesting stories, such as his backpacking adventures through Europe in the 1970s or all of the beautiful sites he had chosen visit like the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat. His uncle was a bit of a nomad and since he never really kept to one place long, his parents always kept a spare room open to him. Much like Ben’s room was covered in posters, his uncle’s room was covered with pictures he had taken over the years. As a child, Ben had spent many hours staring at the pictures and dreaming of one day traveling to all of them.

Now that he was finally old enough to travel, he wondered why he hadn’t. Yes, he was a workaholic, but was all the work worth anything? He supposed he was a little old to be going through a quarter life crisis but a little young for his mid-life crisis. Maybe this was another factor in his decision to come home, but he wasn’t about to explain any of this to his parents. He mentally made a vow that he would reevaluate his priorities when he got back to New York.

After dinner, they all moved in to the living room, with Han grabbing beers for everyone but Leia. They settled in to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune and whatever comedies were on TV, continuing with only small talk. Ben said good night to everyone and headed upstairs to be left to his thoughts. This trip may have done more good for him than he’d expected as it made him think about what else he wanted out of his life.

He had spent so much time earning money in New York, but not really having anyone to spend it on, only spending enough to live on for himself. Even though his parents were not always in the best spot in their relationship, they always knew they could come back to each other and that they had each other when it counted. Who was he left with? 

The next day passed in much the same way, he spent the day with his father and Chewie in the garage, listening to them banter back and forth and only catching parts of the conversation, since Chewie was speaking half in Russian and half in English. He made a mental note to practice what he had forgotten. He kept quiet most of the day, instead just reveling in being the silent observer, lost in thought.

Friday morning started out in a somber atmosphere in the Solo household. His mother seemed unsure of how to act and Ben figured it was mostly his fault. He saw how she hesitated with everything, not sure how long it would be before she would see him again. Now that he had broken the unspoken rule of not visiting, he’d had to reassure her that he was not walking away again.

“Mom, I’ll come back and visit. Or at least call,” he started before she walked across the kitchen to pull him into another death grip hug. Maybe because he wasn’t a parent, he couldn’t quite understand a parent’s love for a child. He looked down at the tears flowing from his mother’s eyes and moved to wipe them away, which only caused more.

“You know, you and Dad can come visit me in the city. I don’t have the room to host you, but I can always find a hotel for you and treat you to all the sites.”

“That sounds lovely, Ben. You’re always welcome here and don’t you forget it!” His mother said, not releasing her grip on him, which is how his father found them when he walked in from the garage. Uncle Chewie was right behind him and Ben was grateful he was able to say good bye to everyone. 

Han and Chewie followed him out to the car and Ben rolled down the window once he was settled in the car.

“Call your mother. She worries, you know that. I’ll see you next time I’m up North, maybe bring Chewie this time,” Han said. Ben noticed that his father always talked about his mother worrying, but it was unspoken that his father worried just as much.

He set off down the road with the goal of reaching Jakku in time for lunch, texting Rey and then spending the afternoon catching up on work. He didn’t want to seem too eager, so he thought he would ask Rey to dinner and then see where it led from there. When he arrived in Jakku, the first thing he did was text her.

_In Jakku again. Up for dinner tonight? – Ben_

He waited a few minutes for her response and when he didn’t get an immediate response, he assumed she was busy and settled in to his own routine, pulling headphones on to distract him while he worked on the laptop, trying to solve whatever crises arose that Hux and Phasma couldn’t seem to solve on their own. He ended up getting lost in work and suddenly realized it had been two hours and that his phone was blinking.

_Sure. 7 ok? Same bar? – Rey_

He texted her back that it was fine and now he wondered what he would do until then. He was almost done with work so he settled back and flipped through the TV, hoping some movie would be on. As it got closer to 7, he took a shower and got ready, trying to achieve the perfect casual look that said he was interested, but not trying too hard. They were just meeting at a bar, he reasoned. 

Ben arrived right at 7, not wanting to be late and spotted Rey walking towards the door at that exact moment. He held the door open for her, trying to be a gentleman, but she laughed.

“I could probably bench press more than you, no need to hold the door open.”

“Let me treat you right tonight,” Ben said as she headed to a table towards the back. 

If there was one thing his father had instilled in him, it was that if you want a woman, treat her right. His father always seemed to be wistful and would mutter under his breath while giving Ben this advice, but Ben knew his father was a charmer and his mother loved his father’s charisma.

When the waitress came to take their drink order, Ben ordered himself a rum and coke, but Rey only ordered a water. She must have noticed his quizzical look because she leaned in.

“Can’t drink alcohol tonight. Bartenders don’t card me on most nights, but I know better than to try tonight.”

Ben leaned back, surprised by this. He knew she was young, but he assumed she was at least 21 because he had seen her drinking the night before and mostly keeping up with him. He knew she was still studying for a degree but he had learned not to judge someone’s age based on where they were with their career goals. He knew not everyone was quite as ambitious as him, nor given the same opportunities he had been given.

This revelation definitely changed how he thought the rest of the night would go. He made the assumption that they would both drink a bit, maybe play darts and he was hoping that they would end up back in his hotel room. He took a deep breath.

“How old are you then?”

“Just turned 19.” She smiled and that smile melted him.

Ben didn’t want to admit how old he was, but knew he wouldn’t lie to her if she asked. Luckily she didn’t press the issue and the waitress returned with their drink to take their order at that moment. As much as he had tried to fight it, he had ended up being just like his father, who was several years older than his mother. He tried to think of what to do this evening, now that she wasn’t going to be drinking and he was. He then asked why she stayed in Jakku if all she wanted to do was see the world.

“My family left me here when I was a child. If they’re going to find me again, I want to be here for them. I remember them telling me they would come back, so until then, I’m going to stay here. Don’t get me wrong, I have plans to go off and finish my degree but then come back here.”

He felt for the poor girl, being abandoned by her own family in this awful place. He understood her reasoning for wanting to stay and was slightly sorry for bringing up her painful past. When he said this to her, she just waved it off and gave another cheerful smile. This right here was what he was falling in love with. Her resilience and the way she seemed to smile through anything. 

Their food arrived quickly and Ben asked her more questions, trying to leave out details about why he was here but when she stared up at him, he broke and explained that he was finally coming home to see his parents after years of not seeing his mother and seeing his father on seldom occasions. She nodded with understanding. When they were done eating, Rey challenged him to another game of darts, but Ben had other ideas. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “How about Netflix and chill? We can stop and pick up beer or whatever.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she smiled again and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek before dragging him out of the bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from the song "My Old Man's Son" by Eli Young Band.


	4. Making the Most of the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta hithelleth!

Back in New York, Ben couldn’t wait to get back to Texas. Rey continued to text him and snap him pictures, which certainly didn’t quell his desire to return. His mother’s birthday was in three weeks and he knew that would make a good surprise. He would have to tell his father he was coming and so he started planning how he would be able to see both Rey and his parents without letting his parents know his other reason for coming was selfish. Rey, well, at this point, he would tell her the truth.

This became a pattern over the next few months. Ben would find some reason to travel back to Texas. He would leave work early on a Friday afternoon, meet Rey for dinner and spend the night at the hotel, stay with his parents Saturday night, join Rey for lunch on Sunday, and fly back to New York. 

He was not sure exactly what his relationship was with Rey, but he was enjoying the experience. He found himself looking forward to hearing about Rey’s day or seeing her smiling face. His days were boring and spent at the office since he was a workaholic, but he found that she loved the pictures of daily life in New York. She was fascinated with all of the typical touristy spots and most of the responses were her saying how jealous she was.

Truthfully, he was jealous of how carefree she was and tried to emulate that. Hux and Phasma noticed how much more relaxed he was at work. His mother never said anything and he knew it was because she did not want these visits to stop. His father, on the other hand, could never keep his mouth shut. Ben was lucky that most of the time when his father brought up relationships and possible girlfriends, his mother gently smacked him, which led to them arguing with each other and left Ben in peace for a time.

Every time he would visit his parents, he made sure to keep his phone hidden, knowing that his father would tease him about how many times he’d get a text or pic and ask who kept sending it to him.

His parents gently teased him about being a bachelor and his mother would always coo over any babies she saw on TV, while pointedly looking at him. She knew better to directly ask him about grandchildren, but Han? Han would be direct and ask when Ben would get on that and make him a grandfather. Han would go on about not getting any younger and Ben would laugh it off. He was enjoying life with Rey but she was young and the relationship was still incredibly new. She was studying mechanical engineering and still had another 3 years to go.

Besides, he had still yet to see her place in Jakku and she had never been to New York. He didn’t mind always getting a hotel or that he was the one traveling to Jakku. It was easier and he had plenty of money to spend, but he wanted to see her place to get more of a feel of her and he wanted to bring her to New York to show her the sights. He didn’t want to invite himself to her place; that would be rude. 

Luckily for him, she proposed that he stay with her the next time he came to visit, even going as far as asking to come on Thursday night, since she had that Friday off from work in preparation of the upcoming school year. He knew she’d be busy working once classes started and relished the opportunity to spend more time with her. He was falling hard for her. She was the Light to his Darkness and any time he thought of his lonely life in New York, she somehow knew and would send him a smiling selfie or a picture of some bright flowers she found around town.

Ben tried to think if there was something special he could do for her. Last month, they had finally agreed to be exclusive but Rey had confided that she wasn’t really in to the whole celebrating every little anniversary thing so there was no reason for them to have an official first date or to consider their first meeting to be the start of the relationship. He understood her reasoning, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to treat this next visit as something a little special considering they’d be spending Thursday and Friday night together at her place, which he had never seen in person yet. She had described the one bedroom place as somewhere she slept, showered and ate, but preferred to be elsewhere. But he had seen it in the background of some of her selfies or she would send him pictures of her piles of notes and textbooks when she was studying, so she obviously spent a bit more time there than she wanted him to believe.

Rey had texted him her address and told him she’d cook him dinner this time. He had begged her to make the chili that she bragged to him about all time. Other than his visits home, he didn’t eat many home cooked meals. Phasma would invite him over when she felt he was looking too frail, in her words, but he mostly stuck to very basic meals, going out to eat, or delivery. He thought about bringing Rey a bouquet of flowers, but she would scold him for being impractical. A houseplant would be an ideal solution to the that but she’d only tell him that she was forgetful when it came to taking care of flowers and tended to kill even the most resilient species. 

In the end, he settled for some of his favorite chocolates from Mariebelle in SoHo. He always loved the designs and tried to pick some of the more interesting flavors, like cardamom, passionfruit, matcha, and saffron.

Rey had told him ahead of time where to park when he entered her apartment complex and gave him very specific instructions up to her apartment. He had texted her, but she had told him before that she would be cooking and that she would leave the door open for him. 

He grabbed his duffel bag and was careful not jostle the bag too much because he didn’t want the chocolates to be damaged. He knocked gently on her door, but he heard her singing along to the radio beyond and knew she hadn’t heard his knocks. He opened the door, calling out her name because he didn’t want to scare her. He barely had time to react before she turned around from the stove and leaped up to kiss him.

“Easy there,” he said as he lowered her back down to the ground.

“Sorry, I’ve just missed you and wasn’t sure when you’d get here. I’ve been a nervous wreck all day trying to make this place presentable. Welcome to my humble abode,” she said as she fanned her arms around the modest kitchen and living area. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the back of the apartment.

“Here’s the bedroom, you can put your stuff down, and there’s the bathroom. I can only imagine how tired you are after flying. Everyone always says how ridiculous the airports are.”

Ben frowned at her statement.

“Have you never flown before?” he asked.

“Not as far as I can remember. Maybe when I was really little, but not since. Maybe someday I’ll get to see the world, but for now I’ll just keep on dreaming,” she replied, dashing back to the kitchen to stir whatever she was cooking.

That gave Ben an idea. 

She had shown him her school schedule so that he could try to plan his trips around her holidays and not when she would have midterms and finals and he knew she had a few days off right after midterms. He smiled and decided that he’d ask her to come to New York for her break and he would show her the sights. He’d even take a few days off work to spend the whole time showing the hidden gems around the city. 

She continued to dance and sing along to the radio as she prepared the dish, sprinkling it with various herbs and spices. He moved to the kitchen to help her, but she swatted him back out, insisting she had everything under control. He noticed she even had the kitchen table already set, so there wasn’t any way for him to help out. 

He walked around her living room, staring at the posters and pictures she had hung up. One boy stood out since he was in several pictures and in most of the pictures Rey was hugging him. Jealousy flared up inside. Rationally, he knew that whoever it was, she was not currently romantically involved with, but it didn’t make him any less curious. 

He must have been staring for a while at one picture in particular because he didn’t even hear her come up behind him.

“What’s so fascinating about that one, hmmm?” Rey asked.

He didn’t want to ask the obvious question, hoping instead that she’d answer it for him. 

“Just curious where it was taken, it’s beautiful,” he said, trying to keep his tone even. The background really was gorgeous.

“Oh, that’s just Finn and I out on friend’s cattle ranch. Finn’s a friend from high school who joined the army as soon as he graduated. Come now, dinner’s served,” she said, bouncing back to the kitchen.

They spent the dinner talking about Rey’s upcoming classes and what she thought about the material. She had one more year left at the community college and would then have to start thinking about where to transfer next. Her original plan was to stay in Texas, but it really all depended on scholarships. She added that she worked really hard now so that she would be able to focus on her studies later. Ben interjected with questions about her goals, trying to keep the focus on her tonight.

The food was amazing, and he told her at least a million times that she was welcome to cook for him any time she wanted. She blushed at this, telling him that it was really a simple recipe and she’d be glad to teach him. He laughed at that and insisted on cleaning up, since that was about all he could handle in the kitchen. When Rey moved to help him, he pushed her to the couch and told her to make herself comfortable, she was going to be treated like a queen the rest of the evening. 

With the dishes done, Ben went to grab the chocolates from his bag, as well as the red wine he had picked up on his way from the airport to his apartment. They had fallen in to a pattern of enjoying a few drinks together, either at the bar or drinking once they got back to Ben’s hotel room. Ben had discovered Rey wasn’t much of a wine drinker, but he was going to change that slowly. These dark chocolate ganaches were meant to be savored and paired excellently with the red wine he had picked up. He sat down next to her on the couch as she flipped through their Netflix queue.

“Open up,” he said as he moved the chocolate towards her. She stared at him blankly for a second before opening her mouth and grabbing the whole piece out of his fingers, with her tongue slowly licking his fingers. He knew she was just teasing him, but he was definitely not going to be able to hold back through whatever show she picked if this was how the evening started.

“Oh Ben,” she moaned, as she ate the chocolate. “This is heavenly. Where’d you get it?”

“A shop in New York,” he said, which led to the perfect opening, “How would you like to come visit next month? I’ve finally seen your place, what do you say to coming to mine? It’s a bit small, but we can make it work.”

She glanced down and didn’t look him in the eyes. 

Ben knew enough about Rey to know she was proud and was probably trying to figure out how much it was would cost her to come visit him, but he had planned on paying for everything, which also usually didn’t sit well with her. This was why they kept to their simple routine of the bar and the hotel. She never seemed to question him spending the money on the hotel, but she was much more careful about where they ate and how much they both drank. 

He pushed her head up to look him straight in the eyes.

“Rey, I’m not asking you to spend the money on the flight, I’ll book everything. It’s nothing to me and I want you to see New York and experience a little of the world.”

She hesitated for a minute before taking a deep breath and answering, “I know. I know you just want to spoil me, but you have to understand that it’s a bit overwhelming for me. It’s always been me against the world and everything I’ve wanted I’ve had to earn, so it’s just a little out of my league to just have it handed to me.”

“I want to do this for you. You have a few days off for fall break, come up then and I’ll take you the store where you can get all of these and more. What do you say?” 

His pleading eyes must have done something because Rey’s face broke into a smile and she hugged him tightly.

“What the hell, yes, Ben, book me a flight and I’ll let you show me New York.” 

He leaned over to kiss her and couldn’t wait to begin planning where else he would take Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Carly Rae Jepsen's "Making the Most of the Night"


	5. Lost Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my amazing beta hithelleth and thanks to all those reading, commenting and leaving kudos.

Ben wanted to make sure everything went smoothly for Rey’s first flight. He had hired a car to pick her up at her apartment to take her the airport so she wouldn’t have to worry about leaving her car there. Since the booking was under his reservation, she was able to take advantage of the business lounge at the airport prior to the flight. When she landed, he also hired another car to pick her up and drop her off so she wouldn’t have to worry about navigating the buses and subways. They were confusing enough when running normally; he had no idea if there would be any service changes and didn’t want to take any chances.

As soon as Rey had agreed to this trip, Ben began making plans for what to do in the city. The biggest problem would be trying to squeeze everything in to only a few short days. After seeing how happy she was over the chocolates from Mariebelle, he knew he needed to include that on their tour. He intended on spoiling Rey with shopping for clothes, but when he had suggested that back in Texas, she had blushed and told him not to bother. He didn’t see the point in arguing when they were both in her bed, but he intended on spoiling her by taking her to the Strand as well. He had noticed all of the books stacked around her apartment and knew she’d be lost in the Strand for hours.

After the flight was booked, Rey began to take the trip seriously and started making suggestions of the places she had wanted to visit. The list was ever growing to include the Met, Central Park, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Public Library, Times Square, Macy’s, Grand Central Terminal, and the Bronx Zoo. Ben had laughed at Rey’s insistence that they would be able to do everything; he knew this was nearly impossible, considering they’d end up spending the nights back at his tiny studio apartment.

He had warned her ahead of time that although his building was quite nice, his place was barely the size of a bedroom in the suburbs. He also didn’t dare tell her quite how much he paid for the studio. He paid for the convenience because it was walking distance to work which allowed him to spend more time at work and less time doing pretty much anything else. At the same time, it wasn’t conducive to host visitors and he just hoped Rey wouldn’t mind that they spend as much time as possible away from the apartment.

Since she had never flown before, he planned nothing for her arrival on Wednesday. He didn’t want to overwhelm her, not sure how she’d be since it was her first flight. She planned to finish her classes, fly in on Wednesday and leave after brunch on Sunday. That gave him Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to squeeze in as much as possible, hoping that she’d be able to come visit again in the near future. Ben knew he was in a bit over his head as he was actually making plans for the future, such as inviting Rey to Thanksgiving with his parents and possibly bringing her back to New York for Christmas and New Year’s because there was nothing quite like the city all decked out for Christmas. 

When the day finally came for Rey to arrive, Ben was a wreck at work, snapping at everyone who questioned him. Hux snapped back at him and told him that he was hindering productivity and he should just go home before he did anything he would later regret. For once, rather than argue with him and have Phasma break it up, Ben just got up, smirked, and walked out the door. 

Rey had already texted him to tell him she was at the airport and she was impressed with the business lounge. As he walked out the door, he received another text telling him they were just taking off. Perfect timing! He’d be able to tidy up a bit in the apartment and order food to be delivered as soon as she arrived, but there really wasn’t much to clean, so Ben settled in to wait for Rey’s text.

_Landed safely! Can’t really hear well yet, side effect of flying?-Rey_

Ben smiled. She was finally here. He wasn’t surprised that her ears hadn’t adjusted; the flight trajectory into La Guardia was a bit steep and he knew it took a little getting used to. 

The texts kept coming.

_Ah found the driver! On the way to your place!_

_WOW! Pictures don’t do the skyline justice! Or ever describe what it’s like to be in traffic. Will be there eventually._

_STARVING! FEED MEEEEE!_

Ben laughed at the last message, knowing that Rey had quite an appetite and ordered accordingly. He ordered two pizza pies and had just picked them up when Rey walked in. She started to run to him and only slowed down when she saw he had his hands full. He waved at the doorman, signaling she was with him, and they headed towards the elevator. He leaned down to kiss her.

“You made it,” he said.

“Thank you so much for this. I hope both of those are for me,” she added, glancing at the boxes.

“None for you, all for me,” he teased.

“Real New York pizza?”

“Best you’ll have.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Game plan?” she asked as they stepped out of the elevator and he led her to his studio. He opened the door, carefully balancing the pizzas.

He knew the place was small and he had seen pictures of Rey’s place before visiting, but he was careful to never send pictures of his own place, which is why he wasn’t surprised when Rey looked around and seemed shocked.

“Tonight, I figured you’d be tired and we could just stay here. Tomorrow I thought we’d do a picnic lunch at the Statue of Liberty and then climb to the crown. I also have tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway.”

“Sounds good to me. Uh, where do you want to eat?” She look around, noticing that the kitchen was a small galley kitchen, the bathroom was immediately on her right and straight ahead was the bed area, with a couch in front of the bed and the TV on the wall. There was a small desk next to the TV and a dresser against the wall, but not much else. It was a pristine apartment and looked hardly lived in.

“We’re just stopping here to get drinks. Grab whatever you want for yourself out of the fridge, I’m just having water and we’ll take it up to the rooftop terrace. The views are impressive and there’s some nice lounge chairs up there. There’s nothing quite like New York all lit up, you’ll see.” 

Ben opened the door for Rey and headed back towards the elevators, heading up to the terrace and leading her outside to pick a secluded spot. After a quiet dinner, Ben gave Rey a quick tour around the terrace, pointing out some the famous landmarks, such as the Brooklyn Bridge. There wasn’t much else to do on the terrace and he noticed her eyes drooping, so they headed downstairs. They settled in to the bed, Ben kissing Rey’s forehead gently and setting up the latest in their Netflix queue. Before the episode even finished, Rey was already sound asleep. He pushed her hair out of her face and settled next to her.

In the morning, Ben woke up and put the coffee on, knowing that Rey liked hers as strong as possible. He headed out to pick up sandwiches, chips and drinks for the picnic lunch, having already borrowed a blanket from Phasma without exactly explaining why. When he got back, Rey had already showered and was sipping her coffee with a lazy grin on her face. 

It wasn’t a far walk to Battery Park, but knowing they’d be in for a long day and the hike up to the top of the crown wasn’t the easiest of walks, Ben opted to take a cab straight to the ferry. Their scheduled time up to the crown wasn’t until later in the afternoon, so they first walked around the island, Rey’s face beaming the entire time. 

Even though Ben had lived in the city since he had graduated, he never really explored much of the city, tending to avoid the touristy spots, so he was seeing all of this for the first time as well and it was made better by watching the joy on Rey’s face. He found a nice shaded spot and unfolded the blanket, setting up their simple lunch. When it came time to head over to the statue, Ben reminded Rey not to get too excited, that it was a long way up but the view was worth it.

After the trek to the top and back down, it was mid-afternoon and Ben knew they’d want to head to midtown pretty quickly in order to get dinner before the show. He hadn’t planned a fancy dinner, as he didn’t know exactly how long they’d be at the statue and suggested they do Shake Shack over on 44th St and 8th Ave. He told her to order a Concrete frozen custard; they were the perfect dessert and a specialty of Shake Shack. After trying one, she wholeheartedly agreed with him. 

Since they had tickets, there wasn’t a need to wait in line ahead of time and they slowly made their way to the show. Secretly, Ben was excited to see The Lion King on Broadway. It was one of his favorite movies as a child, not that he would ever admit it to anyone.

Both Rey and Ben were pleased with the show, and afterwards they walked around the glowing lights of the billboards in Times Square; no matter how impressive it was during the day, nothing topped the night views of Times Square. Since it was a Thursday night, it wasn’t nearly as crowded, which is why Ben wanted to take her there tonight.

The touristy thing to do would be to take her to M&M World and as much as he didn’t want to go there, it was definitely a sight to see, at least with just how many things could possibly have the M&M logo on so there they went next. No surprise Rey loved it. She wanted everything, but at the same time, she didn’t have much room in her suitcase and had already decided she needed the typical I love New York shirt, but Ben made her promise not to wear it while she was here because it screamed tourist. 

Rather than take another cab, Ben figured now would be a good time for some people watching on the subway. The easiest route would be to take the S to Grand Central and then the 4 or 5 down to Wall Street. If it wasn’t for the late hour and the tiring day they had, he would have loved to take her in to one of the outer boroughs to have a taste of a different atmosphere. He remembered coming back from a Yankee game with Hux and Phasma once where a group of people decided to do a dance show in the middle. He was annoyed at the time, but he thought it’d be something Rey would enjoy.

As they were coming out of the subway, it was just his luck that he’d hear Hux yell out, “Kylo Ren!”

Rey looked up at him as he turned around. He whispered to her, “College nickname. Don’t mind it.”

“Hey Hux, Phasma,” Ben said, trying not to draw attention to Rey.

“I thought something was wrong with you today, not coming to work, but Phasma said you had plans. Obviously. And who is this?” Hux asked.

“Rey. Rey, this is Hux and Phasma. I went to college with Hux and the three of us all work together.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rey replied, smiling brightly.

“Kylo here hasn’t mentioned you before, are you his dirty little secret?” Hux asked, earning a glare from Ben and a smack from Phasma.

“I’m not from around here, but then again, he hasn’t mentioned you either,” Rey answered and Ben was grateful that Rey had a sharp tongue on her. Not many people could verbally spar with Hux.

“Well, are you in town tomorrow night? Let’s do dinner the four of us, what do you say? Up for a trip to Carmine’s on the Upper West Side? This way we can avoid the theater crowds,” Hux suggested.

Ben glanced at Rey, to see what she was thinking, but found her nodding along.

“Sure, you make the reservations and let us know what time. See you then,” Ben answered, dragging Rey off before Hux or Phasma could say anything else.

When they got upstairs, Ben found Rey trying hard not to laugh and could barely spit out “Kylo.” Ah, so she was laughing at his nickname in college that had somehow followed him to New York since Hux had also followed him. He grimaced at first, but when she looked up at his frowny face, she laughed even harder, which led him to join in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Lost Stars" by Keira Knightley or Adam Levine from the "Begin Again" soundtrack.


	6. Wait for Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who have read, commented, and left kudos. Thank you once again to my beta hithelleth.

Ben found out he enjoyed waking up with Rey tangled in his arms and wished they were able to do this more often. He knew she was leaving Jakku for school next year and that her original plan included staying in Texas so that she’d be able to take advantage of in-state tuition, but would he be able to convince her to come up to New York? There were plenty of good schools in the city, or even outside of the city in New Jersey, or they could make it work and find a place halfway between New York and Philadelphia so that they would both have to commute, but they’d be able to come home to each other.

Now he just needed to figure out when to bring this up to Rey. Obviously this apartment was too small for both of them, but he’d easily be able to afford a larger place if he moved off Wall St. He knew the issue would be that Rey was fiercely independent and would allow him to spoil her with this vacation, but for him to pay for all of her living expenses? He had the money and plenty saved up, but he knew she wasn’t going to see it that way and had to find a way to gently suggest this. He also did not want to spoil the rest of her trip and decided to put it off until Saturday night.

For Friday, he had planned to start early at the Met and leisurely walk back down through Central Park. Rey couldn’t stop talking about all she wanted to see at the Met and as much as Ben wanted to spend time with her, he knew he wouldn’t have the patience to do the entire museum with her. While she went off to the Greek & Roman exhibit, Ben headed through Egypt and up to the East Asia exhibits, knowing there was a bench near a soothing fountain and opted to catch up on some work emails while Rey explored. She told him she really just wanted to see the Greek & Roman exhibit as well as European paintings, anything else could wait until a later visit since she knew Ben had planned out the rest of their day.

Two hours later, Rey texted him to let him know she was hungry and he met her in the Great Hall, and they went outside to get hot dogs from one of the food carts. 

He didn’t want her to miss any of the typical New York experiences and so they sat down on a bench further in Central park, watching the kids run around on the grass. Ben wondered if he would be like that with Rey and it scared him to think of their future together. He didn’t want to be the absentee father like his own had been, but he knew that was hard with his work schedule. Then again, how much did he really love his job and was Rey worth the sacrifice?

After lunch they continued walking through Central Park, stopping to get ice cream and headed right through the zoo down to Fifth Avenue. He held her hand tightly as they navigated the throngs of people on their way to the New York Public Library. When they had started discussing places to visit in the city, Rey insisted on checking out the library. Rey loved Ghostbusters and told Ben that she ended up watching the tape so much as a child she broke it. It was one of the few movies she had owned as a child and as the library scene happened in the beginning of the movie, it was part she would rewatch every night, which explained why she ended up breaking the tape.

It was still too early for them to head up to the Upper West Side to meet up with Hux and Phasma for dinner, so they headed over to see Grand Central Station. Ben loved the architecture of Grand Central and was right in his assumption that Rey would love the art on the ceiling. He asked if she wanted to take the subway to Times Square and then transfer or if she’d prefer to walk. Ben didn’t usually spend this much time out in the city, keeping mostly to work and the apartment, but he found he didn’t mind the subways when he was with Rey. She took such joy in people watching that Ben couldn’t help but smile along with her.

Ben was nervous about dinner. He didn’t know what to expect from Hux or Phasma. He figured Phasma would help keep Hux in line, she usually did, but there was no guarantee for what would slip out of his mouth. He knew Rey could handle it but he was trying to keep his two worlds fairly separate. In all honesty, he was a little grateful for Hux wanting to go to Carmine’s, he had wanted to take Rey but since they served family style, it would have been too much food for the two of them.

Hux and Phasma were already waiting for them when they arrived and once seated, Ben let Hux order for them. Hux knew Ben’s favorite foods and Ben knew Rey was not a picky eater at all and was willing to try anything at least once. The problem came when he tried to order a bottle of wine to split and Rey looked down, not wanting to say anything at first.

“None for Rey,” Ben spoke up.

“Oh?” Hux started, a teasing grin appeared, “and why is that?”

Ben knew that Hux’s mind immediately went to thinking Rey was pregnant and Ben wasn’t sure which would be worse, leaving it to Hux’s imagination or telling the truth that she was so much younger than them, since Hux was a few years older than Ben and Phasma.

“Because I’m only 19 and not about to drink in a restaurant. Though you did pick a fine vintage,” Rey said before Ben was even able to come up with a response. She squeezed his hand to let him know it was okay, she could handle this.

“Robbing the cradle, eh?” Hux teased.

“Now, stop, Hux, don’t embarrass the poor girl. Tell us about yourself. And how did the two of you meet? We know Kylo here doesn’t do much besides work and sleep,” Phasma said gently, scowling back at Hux. Ben and Rey looked at each other. They had never discussed how to tell people exactly how they met.

“I’m currently studying mechanical engineering. I hope to be able to design more efficient engines in the future,” Rey answered.

“Smart girl. Go getter too. Good for you!” Phasma said. “We need more smart women ruling the world.”

“Thanks,” Rey said, hoping they would forget, but she wasn’t quite so lucky.

“Still didn’t answer Phasma’s question about how you two met. Now, Kylo, do you want to tell it?” Hux smirked again, knowing he was getting under Ben’s skin.

“Do you trust him enough to tell you the truth?” Rey teased, not wanting to start any trouble between them.

“Oooo, I like her!” Phasma exclaimed.

“Honestly, it’s not that exciting of a story. He was going home to visit his parents, stopped at a bar one night, we played a round of darts and exchanged numbers and just kept meeting up any time he went home to visit. I said I had never been to New York and now here I am,” Rey said, keeping the story as close to the truth without giving up too many details.

“Since when do you go home?” Hux asked. Hux knew that Ben rarely kept in touch with his parents and knew the details surrounding Ben’s childhood.

“Since a few months ago. I thought there was something going on at home. Turns out Mom and Dad are just happily enjoying retirement together, for once.”

The conversations split, with Hux and Ben talking business and Phasma asking Rey how she was finding New York and what Kylo could have used the blanket for. Rey enjoyed dinner and the four of them rode the subway back downtown, with Hux and Phasma getting off sooner to transfer to their place. Once back in the apartment, Ben pulled Rey close to him and kissed her passionately.

“Thanks for putting up with my friends,” he said as he took his shoes off and moved to the bed. And this was why he wanted to be with her more often. Sure, she was young, but she obviously had no problem fitting in with his friends.

“I’m surprised you’ve never mentioned them before.”

“I tend to separate my life into compartments; you’re part of the life in Texas, but obviously now you’re part of my life in New York too. Hux was one of my TAs in college and we ended up forming an odd friendship. We both met Phasma at work here and she and Hux have some sort of weird on again off again relationship. They started out as roommates but I’m not entirely sure what’s going on exactly with them now. They’re together and not, but the three of us usually meet for drinks after work,” he explained.

“So you’re the third wheel?” Rey jokingly added, moving to change into her nightclothes and snuggle up with Ben who had already climbed into bed.

“I guess. Really, the three of us are workaholics and don’t talk much about our personal lives. But Hux has known me since college and knows I didn’t talk to my parents. Phasma probably knows everything Hux does and she’s also got a pretty good intuition for when he’s being dense.”

Rey snuggled closer to Ben, knowing exactly where to touch him in order to get him in the mood. 

The next morning Ben found the bed empty. Rey was already in the shower and had started the coffee first. He knew how much Rey had loved the chocolates he had brought during his last visit and decided they would head to Mariebelle first and let the day just flow from there.

As he expected, Rey was delighted with the array of chocolates at Mariebelle and he told her to pick as many as she wanted, but she stuck to just a few, telling him he could always bring more when he visited. After a quick bite in the café, he pulled her around the corner to a small hole-in-the-wall place called Kee’s chocolates, where he insisted she try the crème brulee truffle and the cognac one, as they were both his favorites. One more block and they stopped at Vosges chocolate, which was known for their exotic chocolates and he bought her a bar of super dark chocolate with green tea matcha.

By this point, they were done with chocolate and they headed towards the subway to go to Union Square. Since it was Saturday, the farmer’s market was in full swing and he loved checking out all of the different vendors. Rey loved all the fresh vegetables and asked if they had dinner plans. When he shook his head, she started buying things to cook a meal. Even though his kitchen was small, it was big enough that they could cook something and Ben thought it was better to buy the food later, knowing that he wanted to take her to the Strand and she’d spend a while pouring over all of the books.

The Strand was just a few blocks south of Union Square and Rey loved browsing through books. She loved sci fi books and couldn’t stop smiling when she’d find one that had gone out of print that she wanted. In the end she settled for just five books and she said it was only because there was no way she had enough room in her suitcase for everything. Ben suggested buying another suitcase, but she told him he had to just stop buying her things.

With his hands full of her bags from the Strand and the chocolate shops, he gave her some cash and free reign to buy whatever was necessary for dinner. Anything they needed could be had here and if not, there was a Whole Foods across the street. While Rey was off buying all the food, Ben picked up a bottle of red wine, since Rey enjoyed it and figured they’d be able to drink it up on the terrace.

Rey had decided to cook a stir fry dish, which was great because he really didn’t have enough pots to be able to cook everything. When they got back to the apartment, she shooed him out of the kitchen, since he kept distracting her by hoovering over her and kissing her or hugging her from behind. He knew it unnerved her when he just stared at her, even though he couldn’t help it when she looked so cheery, so he put the TV on to distract him. When dinner was done she scooped some into two large salad bowls, while he grabbed two wine glasses and the bottle.

After dinner, they sat in the two person lounge couches on the terrace, Rey curled up against him with her head on his shoulder and his arm around her. 

Suddenly her phone buzzed with a text from Finn. She hadn’t heard from him in a while, but that was to be expected. He was frequently without contact, but she was surprised he’d be texting her at this hour.

_Saw from your snapchats that you’re in NYC. Did I mention Poe lives here? What are you doing tonight? Poe knows this interesting sushi place over on Third Ave. Do you want to catch up? TEXT BACK!_

“Who’s that?” Ben asked, trying not to read her text and giving her some privacy.

“My friend Finn’s apparently in town tonight and wants to meet for sushi with his boyfriend Poe, who lives here now too. Are you up for sushi? Do you want to meet my friends?” Rey asked, not sure what Ben’s response would be.

“Sure, let’s do it. They can’t be any worse than Hux, and you’ve already dealt with him.”

“Yes! Alright, I’ll text Finn back,” Rey leaned up to kiss Ben on his cheek.

_Love to! Do you mind if I bring my boyfriend? What time and what’s the address?-Rey_

_Boyfriend? YES! When did this happen? It’s called East and it’s 366 3rd Ave. Meet us there at 11.-Finn_

“Ben, do you know this place?”

“No, but it’s an easy subway ride up. This is the Finn from the picture?” Ben said, remembering from when he was in her apartment.

“Yup! I haven’t seen him in a while but he’s been with Poe for a few years. Poe’s only been to Jakku just once, so I’m not entirely sure how this will go. Finn will probably grill you, he’s sort of a protective older brother of me.”

“Like I said, you dealt with Hux, I can handle your friends.” 

They finished off the wine and dinner before heading downstairs. The air had grown chilly and Rey grabbed a light jacket since they were going to be out for a bit. 

When they arrived, Finn and Poe were already sitting down.

“Poe Dameron?” Ben exclaimed, gaping, and then grinning.

“Ben Solo?” Poe asked, standing up to give Ben a hug. Ben was shocked to see Poe, he hadn’t seen him since they both lived in DC when they were children.

Rey and Finn looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Finn questioned.

“We went to school together when we were kids,” Poe answered, sitting back down next to Finn. Ben moved next to Rey, shaking Finn’s hand to introduce himself.

“Uh, small world. This place is interesting,” Rey commented, noticing that the sushi went around on a conveyor belt around the bar.

“Yeah, it’s one of the places I love to take tourists. Which you two both are,” Poe said, pointing at Rey and Finn.

“How do you know Ben’s not a tourist too?” Rey asked.

“Your mom still talks to mine occasionally. When I moved out to Brooklyn, mine told me that you lived here. Considering at that point we hadn’t talked in ten years, I didn’t think you’d even answer my call,” Poe replied.

“It is good to see you, and obviously you’re doing well,” Ben said, noticing that Finn and Poe both couldn’t stop smiling at each other.

“How long are you here for Rey?” Poe asked.

“Just until tomorrow, but I got here Wednesday night,” she answered as she pulled off some sushi from the belt.

“And the juicier question, how long has this been going on and how come you haven’t mentioned it?” Finn asked. 

Ben was surprised Rey hadn’t told Finn, since he was her best friend, but then again, he also hadn’t told Hux and Phasma about Rey. Partially, that was because they saw each other so infrequently, always in Jakku where only a few people knew Rey and no one knew him anyway. If the question had only been about how long it had been going on, Ben would have answered, since Rey had answered it for Hux, but since Finn wanted to know why she hadn’t told him, well, that would have to come from her.

“It’s fairly new and since I didn’t know how long it was going to last, I didn’t want to tell you and for it to be over before you got to meet him, but obviously it’s lasted a longer than I thought originally,” Rey answered.

Ben was never shocked about Rey’s honesty; it was one of the traits he admired about her. She spoke her mind, which meant he was never sure exactly what she was going to say. He knew she’d make a terrible politician, that’s for sure.

“I’m happy for you, you haven’t smiled this much in a long time. I’ll just grill Poe about Ben’s past and tell you all of his embarrassing stories,” Finn smiled and Poe nodded along, while Ben groaned, knowing well that Poe could really embarrass him with some of his childhood stories.

“Thanks for that,” Rey said appreciatively. The four of them continued to talk about the weather and what other touristy things Rey had done while she had been in the city, since Finn had been several times before. Poe insisted on treating them, which Ben and Rey both graciously thanked him for.

Ben was quiet on the walk back to the subway and then up to the apartment. Rey noticed this, but he was glad she didn’t say anything, only gently squeezed his hand and thanked him for coming out to meet her friends. He had planned on talking to her about her future and mostly how it would relate to their future together after dinner while they were on the roof terrace, but then she had gotten the text from Finn and was so excited to see him. Now it was late and he really didn’t want to bring it up, but it was now or never. 

Once back in the apartment, Ben sat down on the chair, while Rey curled up on the bed. He ran his hands through hair, not sure where to begin. He took a deep breath and started.

“I know you’ve been planning on transferring to a school in Texas when you finish up at the community college this year, but what do you say to looking at schools here and moving in with me?” Ben rushed out in almost one breath. 

Rey shot straight up and opened her mouth, before closing it and sitting back down, taking her own deep breath.

“I don’t know. How would I pay for everything? There’s no way I can afford tuition here, I’m going to just barely make it in Texas. I’ve got enough saved for room and board, but only in Texas, you know there’s no way I can pay my fair share of the rent. Besides, this place? You and I would kill each other being here for more than a weekend.”

“Don’t worry about the money, I have more than enough to pay for everything. We could find a bigger place. I can afford a larger place on my own, but it’s not worth it. But you are. I’d have to move away from here, sure, but there’s definitely a larger place in my budget.”

“I can’t let you pay for everything,” Ben was about to protest this, when she held up her hand, “No, this weekend doesn’t count. This is you treating me and if you want me to split it you know I would.”

“It’s not about money, I don’t need your money, I just want you!”

“Besides, what about schools? Have you thought about that?” Rey asked.

Ben saw that she was just trying to find any excuse, but he knew it was the money issue that was bothering her the most.

“There’s plenty of good schools for mechanical engineering in the city, Stevens and NJIT are just across the river in NJ, Rutgers is a train ride away and if you found a school in Philly, well, we’d just have to find a place in between so we could both commute. Please, Rey, consider it?” Ben begged.

“But in the end, it all comes back to money. I can’t let you pay for everything.”

“Why not? Shit, Rey, I love you!” Ben yelled, then calmed himself and ran his hands through his hair again.

“I know,” Rey sighed, “But we’ve known each other just for a few months and haven’t really spent that much time together. See it from my perspective. What if you change your mind? Then I’m stuck here with no money to pay for tuition and living expenses.”

“I can set up a joint account with both our names, I won’t touch it, just put enough in it to cover your living expenses and tuition, it’s yours, no strings attached. If we don’t work out, then consider it a gift. Rey, think about it. If you stay in Texas, then we’re limited to what we’ve been doing the past few months. Only seeing each other depending on my schedule of coming to Texas and on longer weekends when you can get here. I know your classes are only going to get harder. You live alone; if you move here, I’ll be able to help you out with little things, ordering food, keeping the apartment clean, helping you relax. Think about it,” Ben pleaded. Rey had moved so that her back was facing the kitchen, while Ben had moved against the window.

“Ben, this is a lot to take in. I’m calling Finn and I’m going to go stay there tonight. I think we need to take it easy. I’ve loved this and this trip has been amazing, but this is a lot. I’m only 19, you know that, and you’re 29. This is a big step. I’ve never lived anywhere outside of Texas and to move to New York to be with a boyfriend I’ve only known for six months? Sorry, I can’t deal with this now. I’ll call you in the morning,” she said, grabbing her bag and running out the door.

Ben slid down against the wall. While he did admire Rey’s honesty, this was not how he had pictured the conversation to go.

Firstly, he finally admitted that he loved her and while she didn’t say it back, he didn’t regret it. Secondly, she was right that this was a big step for both of them, what was he thinking? Oh, right, he was thinking that this was the best option for them to be together, rather than playing this game for two and half more years, since she still had one more semester at the community college. And finally, why had he let her walk out the door? 

There was no way he could catch her now, but they both needed some time to cool off before they said something they actually regretted. He had witnessed enough of his parents’ fights to know that there were some things you couldn’t take back. He also knew better than to start drinking because that never ended well.

Rey never came back that night, but she did at least text him to say sorry and she’d call him when she landed back in Texas. Finn was going to take her to the airport. So now Ben didn’t even get to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Wait for Me" by Kings of Leon.

**Author's Note:**

> Story Title inspired by "Bury It" by Chvrches.


End file.
